New Voter Dispute In Western Sahara

Published: June 28, 1995

PARIS, June 27—
Rebels in Western Sahara have pulled out of a United Nations voter registration program, accusing neighboring Morocco of trying to include its settlers in a referendum on the status of the desert territory.

Polisario rebels have fought a 15-year war against Morocco, which controls the sparsely populated, mineral-rich former Spanish colony on the northwest coast of Africa.

The independence vote, originally scheduled for 1992, has been delayed by disputes over who can participate. The Polisario rebels want a list of voters based on a 1972 census conducted by Spain. Morocco, which has built up a vast administrative system in Western Sahara and brought in Moroccan settlers, wants the voting rolls enlarged.